American Gigolo – Season 1 Episode 8 Recap, Review & Ending Explained

East Of Eden

Episode 8 of American Gigolo starts with Isabelle and James together, counting up the stacks of cash they’ve bagged thanks to Colin’s abduction. Apparently Isabelle is driven by “sentimental reasons” for taking him out. Well, after getting what she wanted, Isabelle decides to drive Colin home.

Is Panish arrested?

Meanwhile, Julian shows up at Michele’s, letting them know that Panish has ben arrested. Things are awkward, especially when Julian learns that Richard is now aware of the secret between them – that Colin is actually Julian’s son. Julian receives a message from Isabelle, letting him know that she has Colin. She makes him promise not to mention her name and to keep everything a secret in order to get him back. He decides to do just that and takes off.

At the station, Sunday begins questioning Panish, pointing out the charges they want to convict him for, including murder. Well, Panish finally confesses when he realizes Sunday intends to follow through, and that’s where she learns James McGregor is the man who has taken Colin. And naturally, the room has been completely bleached down when Sunday arrives at the motel, with not a trace left behind.

Checking out McGregor’s house, she notices a whole bunch of interesting items, including evidence of his tattooed hand, which matches several different eyewitness accounts already, and a smattering of guns.

Is Michelle reunited with Colin?

Julian rings Michelle and lets her know that Colin has been found. Julian goes on to tell her that he needs a minute and can’t go home to Richard just yet. Thinking fast, Michelle suggests the beach house, where Michelle arrives to see him. Colin is in shock, and he retorts that Panish was the one who killed Elizabeth, but believes under Richard’s order.

Colin refuses to go home, so Julian heads over and sits with him, offering some words of encouragement and suggesting he should embrace his feelings. He shouldn’t run anymore and just crash into it head-on. Julian obviously has experience with trauma in his past, and it’s enough to get Colin to open up, eventually thanking his biological father for helping.

When Julian leaves, Michelle promises to come and find him when everything settles down. If it settles down. Michelle drives Colin back home, but things are frosty between Richard and Colin. He refuses to touch his father, staring daggers at him when he gets out the car.

Is the case resolved?

Back at the station, celebrations get underway. The Captain reveals that the .38 Sunday found in McGregor’s house was the exact model used to kill Olga. Before Panish, he was working for Olga. Sunday doesn’t see much motivation and believes the whole thing is flimsy, refusing to celebrate along with the others.

So with Pnaish behind bars, Sunday reluctantly closing up the investigation, and Julian getting to work, he tries to make an honest living for himself. Sunday catches up with him after a shift and tells Julian she hasn’t got a sense of closure from this case. Julian scoffs and walks away, telling her that moving on isn’t so bad. So Sunday takes that step and heads over to see Rachel.

How does American Gigolo end?

As for Michelle, she gets cold feet about leaving Richard. Colin is finding a way back to Richard and he’s the one who raised the boy to who he is now. Julian admits he never wanted to be a bad thing in her life and the pair part ways. In fact, Julian cuts ties with Isabelle too, telling her that he doesn’t want to be part of her world anymore. Isabelle is not happy and belittles him about his restaurant job. It doesn’t work though, and he continues to walk away.

When Isabelle heads back to the house, she tells Lorenzo that all she did was love him. As for Julian, he can’t have Michelle or Colin, so he decides to go back and do the only thing he knows how to do.

The Episode Review

So American Gigolo bows out its first season by wrapping up this Colin issue with very little drama along the way. There’s still an inkling that the case could be opened up and as Sunday said herself, there’s not a sense of satisfaction over everything being finalized and concluded so easily.

Despite that though, American Gigolo has been a decent character-driven drama and there’s certainly a lot to like with this one. The finale does leave a lot to be desired however, and I can imagine a fair few people will watch this and walk away thinking “is that it?”

The viewing figures have been pretty low across the board so we’ll have to wait and see what the future holds for this one but I’d imagine it’ll reman as a single season series, especially after that ending.